Beyond Solving: Pushing, Preserving, and Promoting Problems

Three ways people respond to a problem (other than solving it)

As a consultant, I observe that people rarely just solve problems. Instead, they often push issues elsewhere, preserve them to maintain their own relevance, or promote new ones. Drawing on insights from Clay Shirky and Jerry Weinberg, I argue that understanding these three 'P's is crucial. We must recognize who benefits from a problem's existence and abandon the illusion that we can ever finish solving them all.

"People who can solve problems do lead better lives. But people who can ignore problems, when they choose to, live the best lives."